From Lynda’s Journal ~Daily Awakenings ~
A Poem
From Lynda’s Journal
Daily Awakenings
Daily Awakenings
He awakens slowly
shielding his eyes
watching
through half-closed lids.
silently enters the restart
of a typical functioning day.
He splashes in a warm shower
balances a thin torso
overcautious legs, bony feet
A virtually undetectable shiver
moves up his spine
as he speaks of trivialities.
He lies in his safe nest
In a state of anxiety
where everything is in order
gloves, towels, pillows, blankets
doesn’t know the day or season.
cognitive decline is irreversible
and incurable.
He lays out vitamins and meds
on the green cotton towel
arranged perfectly in a row
begins the daily count
“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7”, he whispers
Gathers up his defense mechanisms.
On a good day he
picks colorful markers
makes geometric drawings
and calculates more numbers.
Evenings are spent
reclining on his soft bed.
The progression does not happen
All at once.
He views colorful fragments
watches tiny ants, fledging sparrows, traffic,
tree-tops blowing in the summer breeze
shielding the silence
in his world where words
no longer matter.
_ Lynda McKinney Lambert. June 27, 2021.
Published:
Mingled Voices #6, International Proverse (Hong Kong) Poetry Prize Anthology, 2021
More information on this book in all available formats: Amazon
Book Cover: Mingled Voices #6, Published April 2022.
Lynda has 5 poems featured in this international collection of poetry.
Backstory From the Professor’s Journal~
Sometimes I live with an idea for many years before it ripens into a completed poem.
Daily Awakenings, is a poem I began to write in California around 1992. Originally, I started writing the outline that described a personal encounter and observations over several months. This poem remained incomplete until I picked it up in 2021. I thought about the years between the poem’s beginning and my present life. To get this poem to where it is today, took many years of circumstances and maturity to bring it to life.
I wait for the unfolding of my poems. I never rush my work. I linger with them in solitude. I wait on the poem to guide me. Creation can be a very lengthy process as we cover a wide terrain on our journey. I honor the poem and cherish the time we spend together in the process. Patience has many rewards.
Time is always on my side. When I am working on a poem, I am unaware of the passage of time. It is of no importance to me. The poem will unfold naturally as we work together. ~Lynda McKinney Lambert
MINGLED VOICES 6:
sixty-seven poets
one hundred and thirty-three poems
The International Proverse Poetry Prize was jointly founded in 2016 by Dr Gillian Bickley and Dr Verner Bickley, MBE, in association with the annual international Proverse Prize for unpublished book-length fiction, non-fiction or poetry, submitted in English, which they also founded, in 2008.
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Poetry Treasures 2: WordCrafter Poetry Anthology
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©Lynda McKinney Lambert, 2022. All rights reserved.
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Poetry – Non-Fiction – Personal Essays
Poem
“Daily Awakenings”
From the Professor’s Journal
Mingled Voices 6
NOW AVAILABLE at AMAZON Here.
“Daily Awakenings”
He awakens slowly
shielding his eyes
watching
through half-closed lids.
silently enters the restart
of a typical functioning day.
He splashes in a warm shower
balances a thin torso
overcautious legs, bony feet
A virtually undetectable shiver
moves up his spine
as he speaks of trivialities.
He lies in his safe nest
In a state of anxiety
where everything is in order
gloves, towels, pillows, blankets
doesn’t know the day or season.
cognitive decline is irreversible
and incurable.
He lays out vitamins and meds
on the green cotton towel
arranged perfectly to
begins the daily count
“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7”, he whispers.
Gathers up his defense mechanisms.
On a good day he
picks colorful markers
makes geometric drawings
and calculates more numbers.
Evenings are spent
reclining on his soft bed.
The progression does not happen
All at once.
He views colorful fragments
watches tiny ants, fledg+ing sparrows, traffic,
tree-tops blowing in the summer breeze
shielding the silence
in his world where words
no longer matter.
©Lynda McKinney Lambert, June 27, 2021. All rights reserved.
Published:
MINGLED VOICES 6: INTERNATIONAL PROVERSE POETRY PRIZE ANTHOLOGY 2021
Published April 2022.Copyright June 28, 2021.
©Lynda McKinney Lambert.
Backstory:
_Dailey Awakenings _
Sometimes it takes many years for me to complete a poem. I have to wait until I have lived through some circumstances in life so that I can see the bigger picture of the idea I had initially. I never rush my poems; I wait on them to guide me in the process of creation. Poems cannot be rushed.
This poem began to take form in 1992. I wrote down some fragments while observing the behavior of a person I knew. I was frustrated, angry and homesick at this time because I was living in California but I wanted to go back home with my family in Pennsylvania. I jotted down the pieces of this poem at that time.
After I sketched out my thoughts in 1992 I did not return to them until 2021.
I looked through my poetry archives. When I read the fragments, they merged with my present observations of my husband and his daily challenges. I saw so many parallels with the things I was thinking about so long ago. My husband is in remission from Acute Myeloid Leukemia since 2014. He suffered through months of terrifying treatments and a stem cell transplant that year. All of this left impressions in his mind that he deals with daily.
I merged attributes of dementia with characteristics of two men to create this poem. My husband is now living in a memory care facility near our home.
Bob and Lynda Lambert. 2020.
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Read MORE about this ANTHOLOGY and six poems by Lynda ~ Here.
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Lynda’s April 2022 Newsletter – Read it NOW.
©Lynda McKinney Lambert, June 1, 2022. All rights reserved.
You are welcome to share this article but please remember to include the copyright information.
I appreciate your courtesy.
